According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) monthly House Price Index, U.S. house prices rose 0.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from April 2011 to May 2011.

The previously reported 0.8 percent increase in April was revised to a 0.2 percent increase. For the 12 months ending in May, U.S. prices fell 6.3 percent. The U.S. index is 19.6 percent below its April 2007 peak and roughly the same as the January 2004 index level.

The FHFA monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses backing mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. For the nine Census Divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from April to May ranged from -1.0 percent in the West South Central Division to +2.0 percent in the Mountain Division.

It's a tale of two markets; distress home sales versus normalized sales, that is creating appraisal pricing issues in many markets across the U.S. today. According to a recent nationwide survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), one out of three builders are reporting losing signed sales contracts during the preceding six months ...

Frank Nothaft Based on Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), average fixed mortgage rates largely unchanged and near their record lows helping to keep housing affordability high for those borrowers who are in the market. The 30-year fixed...

The French Riviera ranks amongst the most stable second home markets in Europe. The upper market segment in particular is characterized by a level of demand that remains consistently high. According to Hamburg, Germany-based international real estate firm Engel & Völkers, prime locations in the French Côte d'Azur are reaching new price highs.

According to three leading U.S. economists, despite national and global economic headwinds, Florida's real estate market is entering 2012 on an upward trend. But clouds may be on the horizon. "Our state is in a mini-recovery," said Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. John Tuccillo at the state association's 2012 Real Estate and Economic Forecast Conference in Orlando.

Global economic turmoil since 2008 has led to sharply different responses from luxury developers around the world today, says Knight Frank's newly released 2012 Global Development Review Report. Knight Frank's reports shows luxury residential development in 14 key locations around the world reveals that 50%-60% of demand for newly-built property ...

(MIAMI, FL) -- According to the Miami Association of Realtors, October cumulative pending home sales - including single-family homes and condominiums - in Miami-Dade County were 10 percent above what they were a year earlier, up from 10,264 to 11,245, and 0.4 percent below the previous month, down from 11,296.